Colin Marshall Dies at 78; Revamped British Airways

By DENNIS HEVESI

Published: July 13, 2012

Colin Marshall, who played a central role in transforming British Airways from a widely disparaged, deficit-ridden government-run entity into one of the world's most profitable airlines in the 1980s, died on July 5 in London. He was 78.

The cause was cancer, said Tony Cocklin, a spokesman for the family.

Before Mr. Marshall joined British Airways, the common joke among its disgruntled customers was that its initials stood for ''bloody awful.'' Created in 1974 in a merger of British European Airways and the British Overseas Airways Corporation, the airline had been deteriorating for several years, and by the early '80s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was determined to straighten it out.

She assigned that task to John King, the chairman, and he reached out to Mr. Marshall, a widely respected marketing expert who had been chief executive of the Avis car rental company in the United States. Mr. King named him the airline's chief executive in 1983.

''The relationship between King and Marshall became as close as that of father and son,'' The Daily Mail of London wrote in 2003, with Mr. King in the role of no-nonsense, cost-cutting executive and Mr. Marshall in charge of rebuilding the airline's image and reshaping its customer service.

Mr. King slashed the work force, modernized the fleet, eliminated unprofitable routes and made marketing agreements with foreign airlines. Mr. Marshall set about trying to attract customers by restoring morale in the airline's diminished work force. At Heathrow Airport in London, the company's supervisors had been known for ''balcony management'' -- strolling out of their offices overlooking the check-in counters, then slipping back to their desks rather than dealing with passengers.

Mr. Marshall created, among other steps, a program called ''Putting People First.''

''I was anxious to inculcate its principles into the minds of front-line people -- those who had direct contact with passengers, including people in customer-service jobs, check-in agents, flight attendants, pilots and reservations agents,'' W. Warner Burke and William Trahant quoted him in their 2000 book, ''Business Climate Shifts: Profiles of Change Makers.''

Employees' uniforms were refashioned. New and refurbished planes had the motto ''To Fly, to Serve'' stamped on their tails. Onboard services, particularly meals and seating, were enhanced. An advertising campaign called British Airways ''the world's favorite airline.'' When the company was privatized in 1987 -- the year Mr. Marshall was knighted, becoming Sir Colin -- 94 percent of the employees bought shares.

In 1981, the company reported a loss of nearly $1 billion. By the fiscal year that ended in March 1994, its profits were among the industry's highest, at $286 million. But for British Airways, as for much of the airline industry, difficult times lay ahead.

In 1993 the company was rocked by what the British press called the ''dirty tricks'' scandal. Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Airlines, claimed that British Airways had used illegal tactics to undermine Virgin ticket sales. To settle the matter, British Airways paid Virgin and Mr. Branson $945,000 in damages. Mr. King stepped down, and Mr. Marshall succeeded him as chairman.

Soaring fuel costs took their toll on the company. So did the rise of discount airlines and the company's failed efforts to merge with American Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Nonetheless, in the fiscal year that ended in March 2003 -- the year before Mr. Marshall retired -- British Airways turned a profit of $138 million, up from a $210 million loss the year before, according to The Wall Street Journal.

By then Mr. Marshall was known in Britain as Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, having been made a life peer in 1998.

Colin Marsh Marshall was born in Edgware, Middlesex, England, on Nov. 16, 1933, to Leslie and Florence Marshall. At 16, he went to work as purser for a passenger ship company. While serving onboard in 1956, he met another worker on the ship, Janet Cracknell, whom he married two years later. She survives him, as does their daughter, Anna Birkett.

Days after the Marshalls married they sailed to New York, where Mr. Marshall -- acting on a recommendation from his father, the manager of a limousine company in London -- went to work for the Hertz car rental company. He rose through the executive ranks at Hertz until 1971, when Hertz's chief rival, Avis, recruited him to expand its business across Europe. He went on to become chief operating officer before Avis named him chief executive.

Late in his career, Mr. Marshall led the Confederation of British Industry and was chairman of the ''Britain in Europe'' campaign promoting membership in the euro zone.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.

PHOTO: Colin Marshall, at Heathrow Airport in 1991, was chief of British Airways from 1983 to 2004. (PHOTOGRAPH BY JONATHAN PLAYER)